Back in August, I was tapped to be a pickle judge at the Eat Real Fest in Oakland, CA. The festival was a bacchanalia of all things foodie: Squadrons of street carts, tremendous walls of spigots spewing microbrews, live demos of everything from butter to butchery. The judging came as part of a series of contests for urban homesteaders. Homemade goods were judged in several categories: Home brewing, kombucha, jam making and pickles.
Among the highlights of the things we tasted were some peppery nasturtium capers and a pickled fig that made our eyes roll. But the one that haunted me most was a bright, complex tomato-lemon chutney. The flavors were simple and clean, yet somehow more than the sum of their parts. It came in second to the nasturtium capers, but it was a close race for sure.
I was able to reach the contributor, Bay Area resident Rany Prambs, who shared the recipe with me. It’s easy and straightforward, and a real testament to the fact that using good, fresh ingredients and treating them with respect will always net you stellar results.
Like all good chutneys, this has a beautiful balance of tart, sweet and hot, so it plays well with a wide variety of foods. It can stand alone as a cracker topper, or sidle up to your holiday main meat; if you’re making a Christmas goose, so much the better.
I’ve been all about the chutneys this season; I think they make interesting and appealing holiday gifts. This one, however, might not make it out of my house. I can barely keep from eating it by the spoonful.
Rany’s Tomato-Meyer Lemon Chutney
Rany’s original recipe used fresh, ripe roma tomatoes. If you can still get some, then by all means use them. Otherwise, you can use canned crushed tomatoes, but be sure to use the finest quality. Make sure they contain nothing other than tomatoes. Or, crack open a jar of the ones you canned earlier this year. You did can some, right? Right?
2 Tbsp safflower oil
2 oz garlic, finely minced
1-1/4 lb fresh, ripe roma tomatoes, or 2 c. crushed tomatoes
1 tsp kosher salt
3 fresh cayenne peppers, minced, or 1/2 tsp chili pepper flake
1 bay leaf
1 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 c. sugar
1 small meyer lemon, chopped finely, skin on but seeds and pith removed
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Gently saute the garlic until fragrant; do not brown. Add the salt, peppers, bay leaf and tomatoes and give a good stir. Turn up the heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes, until the skins start to separate from the tomatoes. Add the lemon juice and the sugar, and reduce the heat. Keep the mixture at a low, murmuring simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes. When the liquid is reduced and thickened, add the lemons and remove from heat. Remove bay leaf. If canning, ladle into hot jars and process by normal water bath methods.
Yields 3 half-pint jars
More from Sean and Punk Domestics:
Pompelmocello
Cranberryless Sauce
Apple Habanero Jelly
Pear Butter
Zucchine Sott’Olio
Fig Jam with Fennel Pollen
Canning Tomatoes
Sean Timberlake is a professional writer, amateur foodie, avid traveler and all-around bon vivant. He is the founder of Punk Domestics, a content and community site for DIY food enthusiasts, and has penned the blog Hedonia since 2006. He lives in San Francisco with his husband, DPaul Brown, and their hyperactive terrier, Reese.
Yahoo results…
While browsing google I discovered this site in the results and I didn’t think it fit…
News info…
I was reading the news and I saw this really cool information…
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Great website…
[...]we like to honor many other websites, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[...]……
Wikia…
Wika linked to this place…
You should check this out…
[...] Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well [...]……
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Websites you should visit…
[...]beneath you’ll see the link to some websites that we think you could visit[...]……
Digg…
While checking out DIGG yesterday I noticed this…
Its hard to find good help…
I am constantnly saying that its hard to find quality help, but here is…
Dreary Day…
It was a dreary day here yesterday, so I just took to piddeling around on the internet and realized…
Read was interesting, stay in touch……
[...]please visit the sites we follow, including this one, as it represents our picks from the web[...]……
Looking around…
While I was browsing today I saw a great article concerning…
Sites we Like……
[...] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose [...]……
Check this out…
[...] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[...]……
Yahoo results…
While browsing google I discovered this article in the results and I didn’t think it fit…
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
You should check this out…
[...] Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well [...]……
Tumblr article…
I saw someone writing about this on Tumblr and it linked to…
Wikia…
Wika linked to this site…
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Sources…
[...]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[...]……
Great website…
[...]we like to honor many other websites, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[...]……
Check this out…
[...] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
Great website…
[...]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some of them worthed to try[...]……
Sites we Like……
[...] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose [...]……
Recommeneded websites…
[...]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[...]……
Links…
[...]Sites of interest we have a link to[...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Sources…
[...]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[...]……
though; while some are legit, some are…
scams. but if you know what to do, what to look for, and where to find these legitimate schemes, you have better chances of making money online. here are three best ways to make money online easy:selling on ebay is one…
Sources…
[...]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[...]……
Cool sites…
[...]we came across a cool site that you might enjoy. Take a look if you want[...]……
Online Article……
[...]The info mentioned in this post are valueable [...]……
Sources…
[...]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[...]……
Rights-Clearance.com I just added your page to my bookmarks. I really enjoy reading your posts. Thank you!…
I just added your page to my bookmarks. I really enjoy reading your posts. Thank you!…
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
Awesome website…
[...]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Links…
[...]Sites of interest we have a link to[...]……
Awesome website…
[...]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Looking around…
While I was surfing yesterday I noticed a excellent post about…
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find useful that we Encourage You to visit[...]……
Superb website…
[...]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[...]……
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……